‘We have no place to go’

These days there is a joke in Israel that our state is the safest place in the world for Jews, even despite daily rocket attacks. But is this really a joke? In 1973, Golda Meir, at a meeting with Senator Joe Biden, uttered a phrase that not only hasn’t lost its relevance today, but describes the exact situation with the Israelis. “We Israelis have a secret weapon.” “We have no place to go.”   

Unfortunately, in the modern world, the moral compass has been completely knocked down. Around the intra-human compass there are magnets in the form of a huge amount of information, distorted facts, and non-professionals involved in socio-political processes. People have learned to quickly adapt, by changing their model of social behavior, to events occurring in the world, such as the war in Ukraine, the attack on Israel. Some people decide not to notice what’s happening, some people rely on convenient “facts” without noticing others. Apparently, this is one of the reasons why today in Europe, in the “Cradle of Civilization,” we are seeing an unprecedented surge in anti-Semitism. 

In addition to the fact that anti-Semitism manifests itself in the form of acts against a specific nation, it is an indicator of the presence of cracks in the civilizational division – in particular, the attitude towards Israel’s fight against the terrorist organization Hamas has divided Europeans. The most terrifying thing is that even terrorists supporters have their own set of theses, facts and their own “truth” that they believe in and which they promote. Continued polarization of European societies has serious consequences for the entire continent. Europe risks losing about a million Israelis and Jews who, after the end of hostilities in Gaza, will move to live in Israel. There will be a migration of a certain layer of society that is fully integrated into the European community (knows the language, pays taxes and etc).   

Despite the huge number of public and educational projects, the goal of which was to exclude the emergence of anti-Semitism in any form in the life of Western cultures. European anti-Semitism has not been defeated. It never left. It slept. Unfortunately, latest events show that many Jewish organizations and foundations which aimed at combating anti-Semitism did not produce desired results. All the major projects need to be audited to improve its relevance and effectiveness.

Among the main reasons for the growth of anti-Semitism in Europe it is worth highlighting the change in the ideological paradigm in the socio-political discussion during the crisis of the liberal model of European development – political leaders cannot answer the question of European citizens: What will happen next? In addition, contradictions arise between left-liberal and radical right ideas. The bearers of left-wing ideology in Europe, in addition to traditional liberals, are migrants from the Arab countries, and the bearers of right-wing ideology are Europeans. At the same time, some representatives of the European political establishment accept anti-Semitism as an effective ideological construct which is capable to unite migrants with the “European left”. 

It is difficult to predict what will happen to the Jews and the State of Israel as a result of the current transformations, but hardly anyone will want to live in a world where there will be neither Jews nor Israel. “…in our death dies the conscience of the world, because a world has been murdered in the murder of Israel. The world will consume itself in its own evil, it will drown in its own blood” (“Yosl Rakover Talks to God”).